A Penny For My Thoughts
by VengeanceSaysHai
Summary: MOVED TO MIBBA 'Everyone Is Gathered to Idolize Me' by Intoxicatingenemy JALEX Fanfiction/ . Includes members from All Time Low, Paramore and Bring Me The Horizon. MATURE CONTENT. Alex Gaskarth is the new boy in town, still learning to grow used to being around new people, one of them being the unstandable and arrogant, Jack Barakat.
1. Chapter 1

Alex Gaskarth dreaded this day. It was all happening again. A new house, a new school, a new life. Why couldn't he have been a part of any other family? Instead he was stuck with work crazed business partners for parents and an older brother who had yet to learn how to act his age. Alex done up the last button on his blue and black plaid shirt. He took one look around his suburban room and sighed to himself. They had only been living here for a few days and already he was eager to go back to Denver. "Morning Alex." Mrs Gaskarth greeted him as he took a seat at the dining table. Her sandy blonde hair was pinned up, revelling her hollow cheekbones. Alex recalled to when one of his classmates back in Denver had mistaken his mother for an older sister. "Morning faggot." Daniel stood in the doorway with a cheeky grin plastered on his face. Alex rolled his eyes as Daniel ruffled his already messy brown hair. Daniel could be irritating at times, but at the end of the day, they were still brothers. "Alex hurry up and eat something or you're both going to be late." Mr Gaskarth said, putting down his newspaper. Alex ignored him and plugged in his earphones, letting the sound of 'Blink-182' fill his ears. He hoped his Dad would get mad enough to drive off and leave him behind. But his Mom was having no such thing, she pulled the earphones out of his ears. "Eat up, Alex. You don't want to be late on the first day, now do you?" She also ruffled his hair. 'Yes', Alex thought, not daring to say it out loud. Fifteen minutes passefmd and he still hadn't touched his cereal. "We're leaving now, Alex." His Dad said, regardless of whether Alex had finished his breakfast or not. Alex slid into the back seat of the sleek black family car. He folded his arms and refused to buckle his seatbelt. "Come on, Alex. Stop acting so childish." Mr Gaskarth said, turning around to buckle it for him. "I'm not going in there." Alex said, as the car pulled up in front of 'Baltimore High'. They couldn't force him to go in and that was that. Mr Gaskarth dropped the boys off and waved as he drove off down the road, glad to be rid of a moody Alex. "It doesn't seem that bad, Lex." Daniel said, eyeing two girls as they walked past. Alex waited while Daniel talked to the red-haired secretary. "You must be Daniel and Alex Gaskarth." She said, smiling in a motion that made Alex's stomach churn. Daniel returned to his side and handed him his timetable. "You have Math first." Daniel informed him. "Why thank you, captain obvious." Alex retorted, waving his timetable in Daniel's face. "Do you know where it is?" Daniel asked smugly. "No.." "Thought so, follow me." Alex was surprised at how quickly Daniel was growing accustomed to this place. Daniel lightly knocked on a blue door and stood back. "Please don't make me go in there." Alex begged. "Give it a try, Lex. For me?" Daniel asked. The door opened and a woman, supposedly the teacher, stared oddly at them. "And you are?"She asked. "Alex. He's Alex Gaskarth." Daniel said, pushing Alex forward. "Oh." Her face softened, "Welcome Alex, I'm Ms Redwood." Daniel grinned and ran off to find his class. "Hi." Alex said lamely, looking around at the bugged eyed students staring at him. "Guys, I want you to make Alex feel welcome.." Ms Redwood droned on with the usual 'Lets welcome the new student speech'. After she had finished, she instructed Alex to take a seat where ever his hear desired. It didn't surprise Alex much as girls and boys with empty seats beside them, began placing their bags on the seat. There was only one seat beside a boy at the back of the classroom. His hazel eyes met Alex's and he smiled warmly. Alex sat down and kept his eyes locked on the table, he didn't want to make any eye contact with anyone. He felt someone poke his side with a pen, he looked in the opposite direction to find the boy staring at him. "I'm Zack." The boy grinned. "Good for you." Alex muttered. Zack didn't bother Alex for the remaining twenty five minutes. When the bell rang, everyone hurried out, leaving Alex behind. He pulled out his scrunched up timetable, he was supposed to be in Geography now. But where the hell was that? Alex stood in the hallway not knowing where to go next. "Lost?" He spun around to find Daniel smirking at him. "I can't find Geography class." "Follow me." Again, the same regime with Daniel introducing him to the teacher. "You must be Alexander Gaskeert." He said, drawling out on the e. Alex gritted his teeth, it annoyed him greatly when someone pronounced his name wrong. "Gaskarth." Daniel corrected, seeing how irritated his younger brother was getting. "Very well, take a seat over at that table, beside Zack." Alex looked across, there sitting with his back turned was the boy he had been rude to earlier, along with another boy. "You again." Zack said flatly. "Who?" The other boy asked, he had a low and rather cool buzz cut that seemed to fit him perfectly. Alex touched his own hair to make sure it was all still there. "He's new." Zack informed. "Hi, I'm Rian." Rian gave Alex a small smile. "Alex." He replied quietly. "This is project season," Zack said, "So as long as you pretend to look busy, you won't have to do any work." Him and Rian high fived each other, delighted with their ingenious plan. "Anyway, so Jack is in a really pissy mood today." Rian said to Zack. Alex couldn't care less about whoever Jack was, or anyone else in the bloody place. "Where are you from?" Rian suddenly asked him. "Denver." "Nice." Zack said. Alex had to stop himself from gritting his teeth. He knew for a fact that life in Denver was not 'nice' and he was relieved to get out of the place. Lunch time came around and Alex was left by himself in the crowded hallways. He felt like sliding to the ground and resting his head against the rusty lockers. "You're new here, right?" Alex looked up at the boy talking to him. He slowly nodded. "I'm Taylor, you were in my Math class this morning." Taylor held out his hand and Alex shook it politely. "I'm Alex." Taylor was about to say something else but Daniel came up to them. "There you are, Lex. C'mon, you can sit with us." Us? Alex followed Daniel's gaze to the crowd of Seniors behind him. How had Daniel made friends that quickly?! "Luck, I guess." Daniel shrugged, reading Alex's face. "Give it time, Alex. I'm sure you'll make new friends by the end of the week." That was the thing though, Alex didn't want to make new friends, he wanted to get the hell out of here.


	2. Chapter 2

The second day was worse than the first. Daniel had promised to stick with Alex and he was nowhere in sight, so Alex had to sit by himself at lunch. He picked at his sandwhich, lately he never felt hungry. Alex watched as friends chatted to each other, wishing that he had someone to talk to. He sighed before pulling out his ipod, he plugged in his earphones and shutted the world out. Someone tapped Alex on the shoulder, he ignored the person and tried to focus on his music, but it was no use. "What?!" Alex snapped, pulling out his earphones. He looked up to find Zack. "Just wanted to say hi, no need to be so fucking rowdy." Zack retreated from Alex and returned to his table, where Rian and another boy were sat. Zack said something to the boy, his head immediately snapped up and looked in Alex's direction. Alex stared back at the brown eyed boy, who frowned at him. "Alex, right?" Taylor walked up to Alex with a small smile on his face. "Yeah." Alex went back to picking at his sandwhich. Taylor invited himself to sit down beside Alex. "I remember when I was new here, all lonely and shit." Taylor said softly, except Alex wasn't lonely, he had his brother or so he thought. "What happened then?" Alex asked, curious to find out what Taylor was trying to say. "I made new friends and now I have the best friend in the world, Jeremy and the best girlfriend, Hayley." Taylor nodded his head towards a table where a boy and girl were sat. The girl's hair was the colour of red roses and she grinned at Alex, he shyly looked away. "Hayley, Jeremy, come over here." Taylor beckoned the two over. "Hello." Hayley said in a slightly high pitched voice, she held her hand out and Alex shook it awkwardly. Jeremy just simply nodded at him. "This is Alex, the new kid." "Hi." Alex muttered, taking a quick sip of his bottled water. "You don't have to be shy, were not predators or anything," Hayley joked, "Or are we." She winked at Alex. "Where are you from?" Jeremy asked. "I don't know." Alex said modestly, he watched as the three of them exchanged blank stares. "You don't know?" Hayley said, she raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "I travel a lot." Again, the three friends exchanged blank stares. "They mean where did you last live." Taylor explained. "Oh, um..Denver." Alex's mind wondered to his life in Denver, he had gotten bullied for the three full months he was there. He remembered the horrid things the kids who bullied him done to him. He shivered as he remembered the time he was beaten so badly, he had to be taken to the hospital. "Pleasant thoughts?" Hayley smiled at him, Alex wondered why they were being so nice. "I-I have to go." Alex stammered, he raced out of the lunch room. "Lex, whats up?" Daniel was in the hall talking to some guys. "Nothing, just need fresh air." Daniel didn't believe Alex, he was worried about his younger brother. For the rest of the day, Alex ignored everyone and everything, he kept to himself everywhere he went. At last the final bell for the day rang. Alex was the first one out of the building, he looked around for the family car. "Alexander Gaskarth?" A woman he had never seen before called from a white Jeep. He nodded his head before backing away slowly. "I'm a friend of your mom, she asked me to pick you and your brother up." The woman said. Alex didn't know whether to believe her or not, until he saw Daniel stroll up to the car and enter it. He slowly did the same. "We're just waiting for my son and we'll be off." She said, re-applying her crimson red lipstick. The car door open and the brown-eyed boy from earlier slid in beside Alex. "Hey Jack, how was your day?" His mom asked enthusiastically. Jack looked from Alex to Daniel, he shook his head and shutted his eyes. "Mom, there's people in our car." "I know darling. This is Alex and Daniel, they're new to Baltimore. You remember , right?" Jack nodded, he remembered them, but he never remembered them having two sons. The drive was slow and boring, Alex was slowly fading out. He glanced at Jack, his earphones were in and he was nodding his head to the rhythm of what sounded like Blink-182 'Feeling This'. "Here we are boys." She dropped them off a few feet away from their town house. Alex scurried out of the car and left Daniel to say the goodbyes. The house was empty, as usual. "I'm gonna order a pizza." Daniel said, shutting the refrigerator door. Alex ignored him, he was still pissed at Daniel for leaving him all on his own. "I said I was sorry." Daniel whined as they ate their pizza, glaring at each other from across the dining room table. Alex was picking at his food again and it was starting to irritate Daniel. "Whatever." Alex mumbled, he got up to go to his room. "Lex?" Alex sighed before turning around to face his brother, "Is something wrong with you?" Alex shook his head, he wished he could tell Daniel how much he hated it here, but he knew Daniel wouldn't give a shit. "Okay, but leave your room door open, I don't wanna come upstairs and find you dead." He laughed nervously. Alex shutted his room door loudly on purpose. He flopped out onto his bed and closed his eyes. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day. Alex woke up to the sound of someone shouting his name. "Alex, wake up you dumb fuck, we're gonna be late!" Daniel pulled the covers off Alex. Lazily, he rose from his bed and stretched. Daniel tossed Alex some clothes. "Get dressesd, Dad is leaving in five minutes." Daniel shutted the door and raced back downstairs. It was well past five minutes by the time Alex got out of the house, he had hoped his Dad would have driven off and left him, but again, no such luck. His Dad said nothing to him as he entered the car, he said nothing when he dropped Daniel and Alex off. "What class are you in now?" Daniel asked. Alex had managed to memorize his timetable. "French." "Do you know where it is?" Alex nodded, but infact he had no idea where the French class was, so he spent ages looking for it. "Lost?" Hayley walked out of the girls' bathroom. "I can't find the French class." Alex muttered. Hayley linked her arm with his and lead him towards the class. "We got lost." She said to the woman teaching the class. "Sit down, you too Alexander." He hated when people used his first name, who the fuck names their kid 'Alexander'? Alex sat inbetween Hayley and Rian. Rian smiled at him and went back to texting someone on his phone. "Hey," Hayley prodded his back with a pen, "What did you get for question four?" Alex was terrible at French, he couldn't even count up to ten, despite the fact that he had gone to France many times and had once lived there for a full year when he was younger. "Nevermind, so whats up?" Alex shrugged, he was still nervous around Hayley. "I dunno know." "I saw you get into Jack Barakat's car yesterday, why?" Rian raised his head at the mention of his friend's name, he had been wondering the same thing. "His mom had to drop my brother and I off." "Jack is an awful guy, by the way." Hayley chewed on her pen. "No he's not, he's a great friend." Rian protested. "Oh yeah, because sleeping with someone elses girlfriend is considered as great, shut up Rian." Hayley snorted. Rian glared at her, "Well if Kat had said she was dating Jeremy it would never have happened, get your facts straight." Alex had no idea what they were both on about and had no intentions of finding out. He quietly concentrated on his work while Hayley and Rian shot rude remarks at each other. The bell rang and Alex quickly got out of the room, but Hayley caught up with him fast. "Do you wanna hang out with Jeremy, Taylor and I?" She asked. Alex didn't want to have to sit on his own again so he agreed. "Hey." Taylor greeted Hayley and Alex, he planted a kiss on Hayley's cheek. Alex wished he had a girlfriend like Hayley, all the girls' he had ever been with were only interested in one thing. "Nice t-shirt." Taylor grinned, Alex looked down and saw that he was wearing his Superman t-shirt. He blushed lightly at his childish complexion. "He's so cute, can we keep him?" Hayley teased. Alex scowled and played with his wristbands. "So what was life in Denver like?" Jeremy asked, Alex hadn't even noticed he was there. "Um...good." He said abruptly. Hayley eyed him oddly, "He's lying." Jeremy and Taylor stared at him. "It was awful." Alex finally admitted, the memories were flooding back to him, he could feel tears forming at the edge of his eyes, he turned and walked away before they could fall. "Watch it you moron." A boy snapped as Alex knocked him to the ground. "S-sorry." Alex tried saying, but the boy was on his feet and had a hand around Alex's neck. "You will be." He smirked, a small crowd had formed around them. The boy's hand grasped Alex's neck firmly, making it hard for him to breathe. "Hey! Let him go, you dipshit." Daniel barged through the crowd and marched up to the Junior boy who thought he could pick on Alex. "Or what?" "I don't give a shit if you're a Junior and I'm a Senior, I will kick your ass if you don't fuck off." Daniel said icily. The boy immediately dropped his hand, he shoved them in his pockets and walked away. "You okay?" Daniel tilted his younger brother's head. "I can take care of myself." Alex pushed him away and headed for the bathroom. He splashed cold water on his face, the bathroom door opened. "Daniel I said I could take care of myself for fuck sake!" Except it wasn't Daniel, Jack stood near the door, watching Alex. "I'm Jack, not Daniel." He stared at the ground. "Oh." "I saw what happened, Blake is a jackass." Jack growled lowly. Alex didn't really mind, he was used to being picked on for no absolute reason. "Just to let you know, I'm meant to walk you to my house." Jack scratched his head. "What?" "Your Dad is gonna pick you up later from my house, it's because your older brother is staying at a friend's house and you can't be home alone." Jack giggled at the last part. "Whatever." Alex pushed past Jack and walked out. He couldn't believe his mom was making him go to a fucking stranger's house. He would remember to scream at her later on, but for now he simply couldn't give a fuck.


End file.
